Manila, Aug. 5 -- The Senate impeachment court on Wednesday recognized the official existence of House of Representatives hearings and records linked to the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte but ruled that their contents could not automatically be treated as proof.

Presiding officer Francis Escudero granted the prosecution's motion for judicial notice only to establish that hearings were conducted by the House committees on justice and on good government and public accountability, and that their transcripts, audiovisual recordings, and committee report exist as official records.

"Nothing else is judicially admitted or established," Escudero said, warning that judicial notice could not be used to place the substantive...